Ebony Rose, Winter Blue
by N.T. Embe
Summary: Aoshi gently trails through the white blanketed forests to the graves of his men, the Oniwabanshuu, to silently reminisce over their sacrifice. However, things don't go as planned.


_Quick Info: One Shot, some time after deaths of Oniwabanshuu warriors._

_The poem that preludes the story was written by me._

_**Disclaimer:** Rurouni Kenshin is not owned by me._

…:-:…:-:…:-:…

_Within a year's time,_

_Seeds that have been etched into the Innocent's mind,_

_Shall strain through flesh and bloom into thoughts half unfurled…_

_Within a year's time,_

_Words fall upon the world and all plains, fauna adorned…_

_Within a year's time,_

_Seeds that have been etched into the Innocent's mind,_

_Shall strain through flesh and bloom,_

_Bloom into—oh flowers, flowers…_

_What can one say they will bloom into?_

_Creeping forth from chambers within…_

_All else dies out, withers away…_

_Who knows what they'll bloom to?_

_All's been substituted,_

_For ebony growths of roses from pale flesh…._

…:-:…:-:…:-:…

A softly glistening consciousness flowed over the world. 'A presence', the air could be named, as such it felt. The lengthy ranges of purpled, ice-sheeted mountains seemed to maternally, proudly bear the new born atmosphere and the glacial images of a feral land fallen into a composed calm. The grand, aged kings of Elm and Pine, Chestnut and Ashe, and so on, fell into stillness and gazed on their realms with manners composed. All subjects of these gnarled rulers and fair princes objectively looked over the detached ranges, and tranquilly met, embraced, and eased the flow further.

The world was blanketed in silver white and sobering grays. The flow, ever this flow, moving over the lands, parting to glide forth around trees and stones, calling nothing yet receiving answers from all and every singular being. The powder snow swirled up and after it, while the naked trees reached out and brushed long fingers over it. Snow stayed in the gray heavens, and high upon the graceful figures of mountains everlasting and forever standing, overlooking and beckoning to the flow.

A figure of familiarity moved in near silence through the extravagant pines, taking care not to brush over their royally coated, outstretched arms and fingers. The being took unvoiced notice of the princes towering over him, the glistening white carpet laid before and under his hushed, obstinate strides. The whispered voices of the royalty surrounding him murmured an old welcome, and the tall figure inclined his head slightly, aware of where he traversed and with whom he was sharing such exceptional, interim space.

Distant, wintry blue eyes echoed of the eerily direct correlation with the very landscape they gazed over. The kings made to flourish slightly their long fingers, princes bowed their lofty crowns in honest approval, for the dark haired being moved with the flow; and the flow—the peculiar, airy flow—'twas the very zenith of this time known as winter. As breathlessly, softly moved the flow, so Shinomori Aoshi stepped, winter embracing him as a father takes into his arms the son that had been lost to him for immeasurable a time.

Taken slowly towards a nearing crest, the man lingered in his strides, moving down the exceptionally gradual hill and to what he knew lay ahead. A little clearing, barely large enough to be called so, where those very dear to him lay in a now eternal repose. So often the fragmented thought had returned to Aoshi. He often times felt so unworthy of such loyal, compassionate… friends. They'd died for a man who had nothing really… just as they.

Softly, announcing to the thoughtful, dark haired man, a young prince of Elms shuddered, creaking gently. Aoshi's gaze darted forward, resting upon a deep navy figure where merely four cold stones should stand at one another's side. Aqua eyes narrowed and the tall form melded into the haven several princes offered, watching mutely, even as a grand king of Oaks looked over the scene soundlessly.

The dark haired form trembled inwardly. A strangling fear and protectiveness had gripped him; a violent shaking ran under his skin, and in his mind this serene, solitary world was tarnished. Aoshi held himself tall, resting back against an indulgent prince who took him soothingly into his guardianship as the man's body fell unsteady.

However, curiosity, stronger than anything else by far, now settled him calmly back. And, although the dark-haired man was unwilling to admit such a thought, he knew observation would be the only justified movement against this… quiet form.

Moments passed and the land eroded away from around him. Peering through the forethought concealment of this steady prince oak, Aoshi made out the form to be a woman's, cloaked under those deep, navy tones, with curtains of glossed, black hair falling from a fair face and deep earthen eyes. Aqua irises gazed on nearly unseeing as a melodious, pained voice swept over him, the very flow he moved with pausing in its indirect way and turning back to him, wishing him to listen, bathing him in emotions voiced to those he'd considered closer than the very earth beneath his feet. He fell quiet… and listened.

…:-:…:-:…:-:…

Her fair countenance was rosy high upon her cheeks and upon the bridge of her nose. A translucent, glossed branching of paths flowing down over a gentle face was all that was needed to show that deep russet eyes had teemed over with saline water not very long ago. Her voice was cracked and worn, as though from many words spoken for too long a time already. Yet still soft, slow sounds proceeded forth from full lips.

"What else can I say? I've come here ever since I'd come to know where you were. It was nothing more than a streak of purest chance that led me to find you. I felt as though I was asleep while on my feet, and this gentle wind was always there with me, behind me, no matter which way I turned.

"I think I've come to believe that it was this very wind, which always brings me back here to you, is the small breeze that I had first chanced to meet. I would come to you every day, I would stay here with you forever… but you know I cannot possibly do that. Even to dream of it seems… seems like such… a child-like thing, like something that will never come true. I don't think I could say it's like a childish _fantasy_ though, because my childhood fantasies were always about you being with me, teaching me everything you know… and loving and caring for me."

A tear fell, and in the quiet, the unmistakable sound of the translucent drop could be heard clearly. Even the flow had died down to a mere ghost of a whisper. Following the first tear, the others came, and the rivulets flowed once more, over a smiling countenance.

To the hardened mind and wintry, apathetic eyes of the man hidden under the young prince oak, it seemed as though the smile upon this woman's face was more painful than any tear. It was too true and meaningful a smile to not be agonizing to the one who wore it… and the one who saw it.

Nevertheless, a moment had just passed and the voice went on, bridled, tempestuous emotions dammed within each sound. As the words flowed, gently she kneeled down and sat back upon her feet, her lip trembling slightly.

"Yet here you are… and I know it is you, Hannya. I know who you were… I know who you are. And… I believe I know who you always will be. You were always so strong. I always dreamed of you coming to take me away from where I lived, coming and finding me one day, in that small town and taking me away to be with you… for as long as that time may have lasted. And we could live with each other and be happy, until I found someone for me. Until I was strong enough, and old enough, to no longer be a burden.

"I wanted to make you proud, Hannya. I wanted to let you know that I will always, always be strong, and follow your ways; walk in higher hope than I believe is within me. And… I'll search down your path. That long road that one day I'd hoped would lead you to me again; the one that I have finally touched."

She leaned forward slightly and raised up an arm, reaching out and laying it gently atop the cold, immovable stone. She looked down at the grave and slowly over the other three that stood proudly at its side.

"I do not know how you died. I do not know these men that lay at your side. Yet I know that for whatever reason you four fell… it was a true and just one."

Her voice caught in her throat and she pressed her eyes shut for a moment. "It's so hard to admit it to myself… th—that you are not here anymore… that you are—truly now—gone. It hurts more than I'd thought anything ever would. But, Hannya." She opened her eyes and looked up to the gray heavens, and whispered something. Her smile returned to her wet face. "I love you, Hannya. And I love your companions as well, for what you all did. You all mean so much to me, and I know that, even though I'd never really met… _any_ of you… I know you were good, wonderful people. I wish…"

She paused and closed her eyes, the tears flowing endlessly now, and she could feel them falling upon her pants and her pale hand, resting lightly on her thigh.

"I wish… I wish I could have known you." She opened her eyes, looking to the snow-laden sky. She rested there silently for many moments, not moving a muscle, eyes half-lidded as the last of her tears slid down her face. She looked down to the stones then, and smiled. "I wish I could have known you all.

"Thank you… for… being true to yourselves… and those you followed and protected. Thank you, for giving me something to… to love and live for. I am… graced to know that, you _all_… had someone to love."

The breeze stirred slightly, the waves of white powder eddied over the clouded, glimmering sheen carpeting the forest floor. The woman gently reached up and with two small fingers pushed a strand of hair from her face, off her wet cheek. Her movement seemed less heavy, but rather now delicately in tune with the fluttering skitters of snow over an ethereal plain, underneath those fauna she knew were great kings and majestic, bared royalties. Slowly she sat further back upon her feet, and tilted her countenance upwards to the vast, hopeful canvas of white and gray. Fluttering and flitting about her form, the little eddies welcomed the slower, graceful sliding delicates of snow from the higher places than even gently purpled mountains.

The graced dancers stepped softly onto the navy, the ebony sheen of the young woman's cloak and mane. Her long, darkened lashes curved gently over half lidded eyes as curtaining snow swept over her uplifted face. Life seemed withheld for the moment… a heartbeat.

She let her gaze and head down, her eyes closing as a nearly silent sigh slipped from between her slightly parted lips. Another steady moment gently, softly flew by. She lifted herself gently, coming to her feet and trusting in something that whispered to her. She let the white-silver flurries embrace her legs. They meant company and goodwill only, she felt.

With the very softest smile she looked to the four stones, coming to be blanketed in snow's peculiar, comforting warmth… and goodwill. She spoke gently, inclining her head softly, her eyes endless measures of deeper meaning, unsubtle emotions. "I hope you all know how much you mean to me."

She slid away then, moving quietly and fluently, a very vessel gliding upon the flow, and she moved by Shinomori Aoshi. And her smile never dissipated. And Aoshi was left gasping within his soul, sliding down into the awaiting blankets of shimmering waves of white.

'_Love…. Who is she?_' A part of him wondered in a quiet, deep awe. But the flow had carried her away, as a song upon the wind; and the standing kings had covered her, as a flower in the winter.

…:-:…:-:…:-:…

The fair calling of wings upon the air bid the dark haired man stir from his deadened rest, in the arms of a fair prince, compassion teeming from the sweeping limbs over Aoshi's crown. Blankets had covered the man gently, and he wondered that he'd not noted the soft covers' chilling spirit creeping over his limbs.

Other thoughts reigned over his still form, mirroring the silent princes above his head, lightly covered in a silver-white blanket of frost yet to melt. His body felt heavy. His thoughts were overwhelming him as the frozen river, drowning Aoshi in a flood of echoed words, silver crested emotions. His winter blue eyes fluttered closed, a soft breeze whispering somewhere to the side, where half-heartedly he noted the rustle of princes and kings as they acknowledged this rivulet broken away from the flow.

_I am… graced to know that, you _all_… had someone to love._

Aoshi moaned gently, eyes squeezed shut against everything. The flow had gone before him; had deserted him to his quietest thoughts and the silent revelations that swam just under the surface of his consciousness, waiting to see him waver before breaking the calm shell. The prince against his back leaned gently down to gaze at him in mild concern, though a rather old king pine waved off the ignorant apprehension of the unlearned. Aoshi softly attempted to cling at the disturbance the king had offered. Steadily though, the flood of a river without temperance gently pulled Aoshi away, into the realization pooled in a deep recess in his mind.

'…_someone to love…._' His eyebrows knit together, and a foreign touch rested gently against his breast. It was a dull thing, soft and constant, gently thrumming a note of control throughout his body. '_A heartbeat…._' In the silent pool of his consciousness something stirred beneath a calm surface… it slid from the depths and grazed the cool mask.

And realization broke the glazed surface; cut Shinomori Aoshi into a neat puzzle of fragmented lies, mirroring truths.

'_My men… they… Beshimi, Hyotoko… Hannya, Shkijo… were loyal to me, they died to save my life… they died for me… because of their great loyalty…._' Softly he gasped and turned his head away from the singular thing standing before him, reincarnate as four cold stones, its gaze piercing through the turbulent river. It sank in gently, dropped under every eddy and current, to the unsteady bed his mind was pressed against, fighting to avoid the cool drop of realization he'd thought was buried. '_It was because they loved me, that they were loyal to me; that they gave their lives and everything for me._

'_All I ever gave them was loyalty, a leader… I was nothing more, never wanted to be anything more… they followed my beliefs because they were also their own. Would the subordinate give love to one who was ever winter blue, and nothing more?_'

_I am… graced…._

'_Graced…._'

_I am… graced to know that, you _all_… had someone to love._

'_Someone to love… someone to love… oh heaven… they loved me._'

A branch creaked and split. Aqua eyes darted forward, a dark-haired crown snapped back to look ahead and rest on a recent, familiar figure.

She was bent down slightly, ebony waves of hair curtaining her fair face, falling lightly over deep brown eyes. Delicate hands were clasped together at the front, resting against her thighs as she leaned forward to look calmly at the former Oniwabanshuu leader. He was caught breathless and dumbfounded, his lips slightly parted in mingled surprise and a fiercely apparent lack of words. Wintry eyes flickered questioningly over the woman cloaked in deep blue. She smiled warmly.

Aoshi fully expected her to greet him with a proffering of her name, or a question of why someone would sit in the snow, awaiting nothing in particular and freezing steadily. Her simple phrase surprised him as much as her appearance, twice now, had.

"Thank you." Her voice whispered of the warmth her constant smile held. Her deep eyes betrayed emotions aqua ones had long forsaken, long ago revealed for a final time.

With a near silent groan Aoshi shut his eyes and leaned forward, getting to his feet smoothly and shaking his head slightly. "Why thank me?" He murmured softly. Opening his eyes, he found her standing straight and looking up at him with a compassionate gaze, hands still grasped gently in front of her.

"You gave them someone to love. Can't it be simple as that?"

…_someone to love._

Aoshi observed her steadily. She stood tall for one outgrown by nearly a foot, eyes and smile betraying none of their former passive sadness. Something in her voice made the dark-haired man's heart skip a beat, and his eyes widened suddenly. She only smiled a touch more freely and inclined her head slightly. And in that smallest movement, Aoshi felt thrown open. His innermost pool of thoughts and musings, things long sunken into depths he'd once thought impenetrable, was laid bare for the heavens to peer down upon and look over…

…though silently the princes engaged in inaudible conversations with their many kings, and the heavens caressed the soft spoken plains and purple ranges beneath with smaller delights of snow. And the only one who still gazed at him had been looking into his heart all along.

Her silence was compassionate, her unmoving form was patient, and she delicately rested in the crook of the ethereal world, waiting for the chance that… something even she could not clarify would happen.

Could he ask her for a name? Would he walk away to leave her and the silence he'd once found comfort in? What could he say? What should he possibly do?

But she spoke once more.

"I know who you are… to the four laying there. Perhaps now I can see just why it was that they would love you."

Aoshi quietly wavered before her gentle words. They were too strong to be spoken so softly, though still they presented themselves to him, causing something within his throat to catch. He found he couldn't speak. The navy clad form had stolen all possible responses, every sound, from him again.

And there it was. Gently persistent, pulling at him softly, towards the way he'd come from, the wingless flow swept over him. Without a word, deep earthen eyes drifted slightly lower, and softly the woman stepped away from the speechless man. She moved slowly, with the flow strongly tugging Aoshi towards the indefinite path she wandered. He cast his eyes over her steadily retreating form, smooth and at home in the invisible waters of the flow, before turning his gaze upon the four stones cast in a stillness disturbed only by a comforting fall of purer snow. He'd yet to truly visit those buried here, and the softly removed form of the woman that had thrown open his hidden heart seemed just as solitary as the former.

Still, there was something inviting about the woman and the flow that incessantly tugged at something deeper than his warm cloak. He cast a glance over the four gravestones, standing serene under a cool blanket.

And something silently allowed the tight feeling in his chest to ease away, as he turned with a soft nod from his resting companions and moved into the smooth flow.

…:-:…:-:…:-:…

She was smiling still after timeless moments of walking along an untraceable route through a feral, ethereal landscape. Neither had spoken, but had moved in a companionable ease and silence. Only when the wind picked up, and both could feel the intimate flow had left them for their own, did she chance to stumble over a hidden branch.

Aoshi moved quickly, caught her softly and helped her regain her footing, one arm gently wrapped about her waist supporting her, and his other hand holding the smooth one she'd thrust out in an attempt to balance herself. She smiled up at him and let out a relieved breath that flowed out as a crystalline cloud from her lips.

"Thank you, once again."

"Aoshi."

He'd no idea as to why he had proffered his name so suddenly, though the resulting smile and sparkling eyes reassured him that it had been anything but a mistake to do so. She chuckled softly in a partially veiled delight.

Aoshi gently let her go and they both stood straight. As they turned to continue walking, she glanced to the side and smiled softly.

"Sage."

Aoshi turned his head to look at her, pleasantly surprised by the beautiful name. It touched him as something suitable and fitting for the woman at his side who bore it.

"Beautiful."

She smiled in a silent appreciation, eyes settled forward, calmly basking in this quite conversation. It seemed as peaceable as the snow covered world, softly touching her heart with a lightness and ease she thought came only when she was away from people. It was a wonderful thing to discover there were some exceptions to the world… some ways to overcome winter. Her brown eyes settled on Aoshi and she let her lips twinge into a smile more content than before.

The two walked on. The serenity of the white world etched into every root and cloud. All sounds were characterized by the soft fluttering of snowflakes eternally dancing down from the heavens, and whisperings of breezes that could be caught brushing against a pale birch, gnarled oak.

Through the quiet ease, something pricked at the edge of Aoshi's thoughts, a question that had been gently formulating as each step they took was etched for however long a time in the white forest floor.

"How…." He paused to think, eyes furrowed in a quiet puzzlement. How could he possibly pose this question?

Sage's eyes calmly glanced over Aoshi, questioning softly. "How…?" She prodded gently.

Aoshi looked over at her for a moment before simply letting the words form.

"How did you know Hannya's name?"

Sage's deep brown eyes grew wide and searched him questioningly, though his wintry gaze was set forward and unreadable. She gently sighed and a soft wistful smile came to her countenance, eyelids drifting slightly lower, gaze settled on the glistening carpeting snow.

"He was my father."

Aoshi gasped quietly, eyes widening. '_Hannya had a daughter?_' Aqua eyes flickered to the young woman at his side, walking quietly with a distant look held in deep eyes.

Silence reigned and a distant understanding fluttered down and settled in Aoshi's heart. His eyes softened and his gaze was warm. Sage, as though feeling the change in him, glanced up to his calm face.

And then he smiled.

Though silence reigned, as all things resounded with purity found only in a shivering coldness, a deep set calm echoed throughout the land of evergreen. Forth and along the eternal landscape the inner thoughts of it all was gently touched, brushed by an ever understanding part of the world called the flow. Stepping from the banks of this harmony the world beyond white opened its arms to those of the flow…

…delicate, rare one.

…serene, cold one.

An ebony rose, and her winter blue.


End file.
